Microsoft has released an updated version of the Xbox app for PC, which comes with several changes and quality of life improvements. One of the new additions is Compact mode, which has been designed with the new wave of handheld gaming PCs in mind.
The Compact mode enables a collapsible side menu, which lets you minimize it so only the icons are visible. This frees up some much needed space on these small screen devices.
Unfortunately, when enabled, you lose direct access to your installed games through the sidebar and they have to be accessed by going into the My Library...
Platform reviewed: PS5 Available: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC Release date: November 27, 2023
Gangs of Sherwood is a steampunk twist on the tale of Robin Hood that pits Robin and his grimdark Merry Men against the evil Sheriff of Nottingham and his army of identical thugs, many of whom seem to go by the name Gerald. As a Robin Hood game, it shakes things up, too: It steals from the time-rich and gives only poor experiences.
Visually speaking, Gangs of Sherwood is a feast; the concept art in the loading screens and the design of every location is a fantastic twist on the classic tale. The steampunk style works brilliantly mashed together with the medieval setting, and wandering around the muddy and mechanic streets of Locksley while being bombarded by artillery is an unforgettable experience. You can navigate these places by yourself or in a group of four, with each player taking over the mantle of Robin of Locksley, Little John, Friar Tuck, or Maid Marion.
Unfortunately, a good-looking game can only go so far. Gangs of Sherwood fails to deliver any thrilling fights or explosive skills that action brawlers like itself usually promise. Despite only having three acts, which last a maximum of five hours, this steampunk fantasy can seem like it goes on for an eternity.
Having to face up against the same group of bad guys, comprised of several goons and one big knight with a shield, over and over again can seem like a medieval version of Ground Hog Day. There’s also no reprieve to be found in the three side missions as the repetition carries on. One quest sees you stand in a large courtyard and shoot a gigantic mechanical bull over and over again as the same bad guys that plagued the main acts aimlessly chase you across the open space as you dodge the bull's incoming attacks.
A walk in the park
(Image credit: Nacon)
My first encounter with Gangs of Sherwood earlier this year in the preview was slightly unimpressive. However, as I only saw a small snippet, there was still a ray of hope that the entire game wouldn’t just revolve around similar fights and enemies, which I had seen in my first hands-on. Unfortunately, these hopes ran up short once I finally got to play the rest of the action game.
Playing Gangs of Sherwood was painfully straightforward; I started on the standard difficulty setting and quickly upgraded to the hardest in an effort to find some joy in the heat of battle. Sadly, the more challenging option failed to paper over some mediocre and repetitive combat and didn’t even make the game feel much more difficult.
Best Bit
(Image credit: Nacon)
There are some interesting environmental kills in Gangs of Sherwood. One of my favorites is dropping a beehive onto an unsuspecting goon’s head.
Gangs of Sherwood doesn’t have to be challenging to be enjoyable, but it does have to be interesting. After the first few fights, I quickly figured out the pattern of every following combat encounter. Not only was the threat easy to assess and counter, but the bigger, seemingly more dangerous opponents were predictable without fault. This predictability sucked any joy or danger out of the action game immediately, and I soon felt like I was simply going through the motions to reach the end of the game.
The matter wasn’t helped by the fact that almost every enemy encounter revolves around the same three fights. With limited enemy classes, every other combat sequence is like deja vu as you continually come up against similar groups of opponents. Once you get to the later stages, Gangs of Sherwood resorts to throwing every enemy at you at once instead of trying to switch up the combat. The most interesting encounter I had was with the main boss in the second Act, in which one enemy heals the main fighter periodically. Still, unfortunately, even that became monotonous as every move was evenly spaced out, which made it simple to predict and quick to defeat.
The easy fights were made worse by Rebel Instinct, which acts as an ultimate ability for every character as it slowly charges as you deal damage, resulting in a powerful final attack. It can be so powerful that I began to feel bad for attacking opponents with a neverending volley of supercharged arrows. eviscerating them in no time at all.
One is a lonely number
(Image credit: Nacon)
My time in Gangs of Sherwood was a dismal experience and claims that co-op would make it more enjoyable is hard to believe. I only played a few parts of co-op, but from what I saw, it wasn’t all that different; it felt like separate characters fighting their own battles in the same area instead of an authentic cooperative experience that would encourage players to gang up on enemies together.
Gangs of Sherwood is ultimately let down by its lackluster fights and repetitive action
Gangs of Sherwood could be a fun experience with the right group of friends, but that’s not the mark of a great game. Almost everything can be improved with the right people around, and this is especially true in gaming. Oftentimes, subpar games are made better by co-op as you experience less of the game and more of your friend's hilarious antics.
Furthermore, a co-op game that only works in multiplayer and not single-player despite having the option to play alone, isn’t a fantastic sign. If a title promises multiple ways to experience it, whether by yourself or in a group, it should deliver on that and not simply bank on players sticking with co-op.
Gangs of Sherwood is ultimately let down by its lackluster fights and repetitive action. With almost nothing else to do other than practice moves, fight the same enemies, or walk around the beautiful yet empty base of operations, it’s not something I’d recommend if you’re looking for something new to play with friends or by yourself. While the artistic style and locations in this action game are something to be marveled at and are genuinely quite impressive, this alone isn’t enough to save Gangs of Sherwood from mediocrity.
Accessibility
(Image credit: Nacon)
Gangs of Sherwood also unfortunately fails to deliver any meaningful accessibility options. Other than controlling sound levels, you can change the brightness, motion blur, and language. Otherwise, there are no other options to be found. This was unhelpful for me since, while there are subtitles, there is no way of changing the size, meaning that I could barely read them.
How we reviewed
It took me around five hours to finish the main story of Gangs of Sherwood and another two hours to complete the three extra missions. While I encountered no major bugs with the PS5 version, there were a few issues with characters clipping through walls during cutscenes, or occasionally, enemies would just stay still as if they had already given up the fight.
To say the Hyte Y70 Touch is the culmination of a major PC building trend we've seen over the past few years feels like it doesn't do this case justice.
Back in ye olden dæges, even the best PC case was just an aluminum box with a panel that would open up to let you dig into the guts of your computer. But like every other kind of electronic device, it was purposefully designed to hide everything on the inside. After all, who wants to look at printed circuit boards, soldered ICs, and maybe a dusty fan mounted onto the CPU that 95% of people never bothered to clean?
We've come a long way since then, and as PC enthusiasts and gamers invest serious money into their builds, the impulse to show it all off became too great to ignore. We've since introduced plastic side panels, then tempered glass, and in the last five or six years, we've started to see cases that resemble the kind of glass housing once reserved for museums so builders could show off their hard work.
What they haven't really done before, however, is have an off-the-shelf case that integrates functionality into this cutaway case design, since glass is glass and it's only really good for looking through and providing a small measure of physical protection.
Hyte, on the other hand, decided to swap out the corner panel of its already excellent Y60 PC case for a 4K interactive touchscreen that has literally stopped several of my coworkers in their tracks this past week so they could gawk at the video wallpaper, clock, and Twitch chat window embedded into the touchscreen along the corner edge of the Y70.
To be fair, they weren't around to watch me stumble through the process of setting up the touchscreen, since it's really just a second Windows display like any one of the best monitors you'll find, though its 1100x3840p resolution makes it a meh-level second display without Hyte's Nexus software.
Once you install and run the software, it will do all the hard work of actually configuring the display to embed widgets, system information like CPU temperature, and even app shortcuts to put your favorite software a quick touch away.
Of course, to get the case's display to work, it needs to be connected to your graphics card via a DisplayPort connection, so you'll need a graphics card capable of multimonitor support as well as a free DisplayPort output. Nearly all of the best graphics cards, and even most of the best cheap graphics cards, will come with at least two DisplayPort connections, but if you're already running a multimonitor setup, you will likely need to do some cable juggling to make sure your graphics card can run the touchpanel.
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(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
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(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
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(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
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(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
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(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
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(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
As for what you can do with the touch panel, there's actually quite a bit, including adding widgets for quicker access or displaying system information, or possibly taking a break from playing the best PC games to play a Tetris-style brick dropper instead.
And while this might feel a bit gimmicky, the program shortcuts are an absolute lifesaver as someone who has dozens of windows open on my desktop at any given time.
Finding the shortcut to launch Photoshop on my desktop comes in varying degrees of difficulty depending on how much junk I've dropped onto my desktop over the past few weeks. Being able to turn slightly and touch the Hyte Y70 Touch's display to bring up photoshop is the kind of small thing that adds up to minutes and hours of reclaimed time over weeks and months of use.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
The Nexus software is more or less fine, and it comes with a number of presets that you can run as live backgrounds on the display. One thing to note is that you need to use this software to setup the touch display properly, so once you've built the PC and have successfully booted it up, download and install the software before you do anything else and work through Hyte Nexus.
It's through this software as well that you can build up pages of widgets, turning the Hyte Y70's front-corner panel into something with a smartphone-like interface, making it about as intuitive as it gets.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
When it comes to actual hardware, the case doesn't come with any fans, but it has room to install up to 10 chassis fans, as well as a 360mm long x 125mm thick radiator on the side and another 360mm long x 68mm thick radiator along the top. You have a lot of options for cooling the rig, but definitely focus on intaking air from the bottom and back of the case, as the front and side walls are glass, so you'll have to be conscientious about proper airflow.
Fortunately, as a dual-chamber case, many of the hottest components are separated to allow for easier cooling and air circulation. The biggest and most obvious way this is done is through the vertically mounted GPU thanks to an included riser. It doesn't hurt that it also shows off your GPU.
In terms of rear capacity, there are two internal drive bays that can fit a pair of the best hard drives at 3.5-inches, or up to four 2.5-inch SATA SSDs. The PSU bay is roomy as well, making cable management easier than with a tighter mid-or-full tower case, which can jam even the best PSUs.
There's more than enough room in the front chamber, so whichever of the best graphics cards you install, the Y70's 16.6-inch GPU clearance is more than enough. It is also able to vertically mount up to a four-slot card, so if that Nvidia Titan RTX refresh ever comes along, you just might be able to fit it in here.
This extra capacity also makes cable management a much easier problem to solve, and even though this is a very premium PC case, it's incredibly user-and-newbie friendly. You'll still have to know where and how you should install various case components like fans and lighting, but the easy-open case gives you all the room you need to work, even if you barely know what you're doing.
And while I am going to rave about this case from here to CES and beyond, it's not all lovely touchscreens and roomy interior. If there's one complaint I have with this case, it would be its price. Coming in at $359.99 / £349.99 (about AU$560), this is significantly more expensive than the Hyte Y60 or Lian-Li O11 Vision, which comes in at just $139.
Of course, none of those cases have a 4K touchscreen interface built-in, so the price isn't unreasonable for what you're getting, but this is a premium case nonetheless, so those on a budget might want to shop around for something more in line with their budget.
Hyte Y70 Touch: Price & availability
How much does it cost? $359.99 / £349.99 (about AU$560)
When and where can you get it? Available in US right now, with UK and Australia availability coming in December
The Hyte Y70 Touch is available in the US right now for $359.99, with a December launch planned for the UK and Australia. The UK retail price will be £349.99, and should sell for about AU$560 in Australia.
This is a roughly 80% price increase over the Hyte Y60, though that case does not include a touch display.
Hyte Y70 Touch: Specs
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Should you buy the Hyte Y70 Touch?
Buy the Hyte Y70 Touch if...
You want an absolute showpiece The Hyte Y70 Touch will draw a crowd if you let it. I know from personal experience.
You want to have a host of functions and apps at your fingertips
The 4K touchscreen on the Y70 makes it easy to pull up apps, track Twitch chat, and monitor system conditions with ease.
Don't buy it if...
You're on a budget
This is a very premium PC case, so if money's tight, forget about the touchscreen and opt for the Hyte Y60 instead.
You have limited desk space
This is a honking big PC case. If your desk looks like the aftermath of Verdun, you might want to go for something with a smaller footprint.
Hyte Y70 Touch: Also consider
If my Hyte Y70 Touch review has you looking for other options, here are two more PC cases to consider...
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
Platform reviewed: PC Available on: PC Release date: October 31, 2023
You Will Die Here Tonight is a short but not entirely sweet horror game made by Spiral Bound Interactive, which puts players in the shoes of six high-level special ops characters with whom you’ll navigate a haunted mansion.
This top-down survival horror sees a special-ops task force invade a suspicious mansion in hopes of capturing its deranged owner. But with little information to go on, the group’s mission is further thrown into chaos when they are sabotaged and blindsided by a mysterious attacker. After you get split off from everyone else, you must use your wits and foresight to plan an escape, but unfortunately, you probably won’t be taking the whole group with you; some of them will die there tonight.
You must gather materials and puzzle pieces to fend off the undead that roam the mansion and solve riddles along the way. Once one character dies, you take control of the next, and then the next one, and so forth, until you’ve expended your resources and have no one else left to help escape.
At face value, there’s a lot of promise in You Will Die Here Tonight. The basis of the story, fight mechanics, and unification of characters are all interesting ideas that could help form an excellent twist on the usual zombie horror genre. However, sadly, this horror title just falls short of polishing up these factors and also fails to deliver some basic requirements. It’s for this reason that you won’t be seeing it on our best horror games list.
Blast from the past
(Image credit: Spiral Bound Interactive LLC)
When it comes to looks, You Will Die Here Tonight certainly does deliver, however. The top-down perspective combined with its retro aesthetic makes it stand out from other horror games that may have a similar premise.
Best Bit
(Image credit: Spiral Bound Interactive LLC)
Being trapped in an underground cavern and surrounded by attacking zombies. The transfer from a top-down perspective to a first-person point of view to shoot down all the oncoming attackers is a nice change of pace and adds to the horror.
The retro art style means that every location looks fantastic. There are gloomy libraries, mysterious subterranean lairs, and even some beautiful gardens decorated with ivy and sparkling fountains. It also makes exploring each setting far more enjoyable if there are tons of great places to admire.
Each one of the characters also looks excellent. While in top-down mode, you can only make out some minor details with the simple character outlines, but each one comes alive the closer you look. When a character begins to talk, we get a close-up static headshot; here, we get to see them better. It doesn’t stop with the cast of protagonists, though; the evil undead also benefit from this cool style.
While they can look pretty flat from afar once you enter combat mode in first-person, these creatures truly do look horrifying. Creeping up from the shadows, these undead experiments crawl and shift toward you at varying speeds, making every face-to-face encounter horrifying.
Some missing parts
(Image credit: Spiral Bound Interactive LLC)
You Will Die Here Tonight may certainly look the part, but unfortunately, it has several glaringly obvious rough edges. While there aren’t any real technical issues, there are some features that haven’t been well-rounded or are missing some features or tweaks.
Entering into the narrative, you get almost no time to get to know the other characters in the story. Besides walking into a room and listening to a couple of them talk about an event you have no memory of, there’s not much to tie you to these people. This means when many of them eventually die, in an assortment of weird and brutal ways, it doesn’t matter. Instead of fighting to get everyone out alive, every character is no more than a heart in the top corner of your screen.
There are also a couple of twists and turns in You Will Die Here Tonight that don’t hit as hard as they probably should. There’s a betrayal that fell flat because not only do I not know or care about the characters, but the reveal felt so wooden that I brushed straight past it. The character designs are pretty cool, and some of the one-liners they dish out can be strangely hilarious, so it’s a real shame that I didn’t feel more connected to them. There’s also the unimpressive reveal of what is truly going on in this mansion; you encounter a zombie almost straight away, which kills off any suspense.
This survival horror has high aspirations but manages to fall short of them in most aspects
There were also a couple of issues with story progression. At times, running around the mansion gave me tunnel vision; despite being in a huge area, every door would be locked to prevent straying off course. More often than not, it felt as if you were jumping through hoops and simply completing tasks for the sake of it and not because you truly wanted to find out more.
It’s a shame. This survival horror has high aspirations but manages to fall short of them in most aspects. The story isn’t that engaging; the riddles and puzzles can be long and quite boring, and the crafting and exploration aren’t fully fleshed out.
That being said, if you are a fan of top-down retro survival games and have a few hours to kill, You Will Die Here Tonight will scratch an itch. The entire game can be completed in less than five hours, so it’s pretty short, and while it’s not necessarily that straightforward to finish, I can see it being a satisfying puzzler for some.
Accessibility
(Image credit: Spiral Bound Interactive LLC)
There are no accessibility features in You Will Die Here Tonight, and the overall options are pretty sparse. There are a few audio settings that let you tweak the volume or general audio, as well as a couple of display options that allow you to alter the brightness, but that’s it.
How we reviewed
I completed You Will Die Here Tonight in less than five hours on PC. I tried to explore as much as possible, so it’s highly likely that you can finish this survival horror game in less time than that. I didn’t encounter any technical issues with it, and it was also pretty simple to interact with and not that taxing on my PC.
If you’re in the market for new games right now, then be sure to check out these great PC games and these fantastic Black Friday video game deals, which are starting to really pick up.
Platform reviewed: PC Available: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC Release date: October 24, 2023
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria has the potential to be something much greater than what it is. The premise of fighting and regaining power over the grand halls of Moria is enough to spark excitement in any fan. Unfortunately, the stumbles over this great potential and the result is very disappointing.
In multiplayer crafting survival game The Lord of the Rings:Return to Moria, you can venture forth by yourself or in a group of up to eight players to conquer the orc-infested mines of Moria. Instead of speaking friend and entering the Western Gate, you break through the side of the mountain to find another entrance into the depths. Once inside, you slowly make your way through the abandoned halls, fixing up old buildings and discovering new pathways, reclaiming the Dwarven home as you go.
While there may be a lot to see here, there is almost nothing to do. Crawling around the mines becomes monotonous as everything looks the same, with only a few pieces of scrap metal, ore deposits, and barrels to distinguish different hallways.
Master craftsman
(Image credit: North Beach Games)
Return to Moria starts strong with a customization menu that’s surprisingly detailed and fun to use. This menu lets you choose from numerous hair and beard options as well as voice, origin, and other features that help create a Dwarf that’s unique to you.
I’ve always loved the Dwarves for their unique style, which has never shied away from non-binary features. Anyone can have a beard or facial hair, while body shape and clothing tend to be indistinguishable between the sexes. Luckily, Return to Moria managed to stay true to this essence with its customization options. I spent almost 20 minutes cycling through all the options available, rejoicing at all the face shapes that had no focus on sex or gender. I chose to have a regal face, broad shoulders, red hair, and an outfit from the Misty Mountains.
Unfortunately, this was the first and the last time I was pleasantly surprised. While there were brief moments in which you could relish your choice of voice actor while singing mining songs as you broke down a coal-riddled wall, most of the time my Dwarf felt lifeless and generic.
One is the loneliest number
(Image credit: North Beach Games)
After you set up your first base by the entrance to Moria, you can finally adventure ahead and discover what else lies in wait for you. At first, I was expecting to find some grand mines full of gigantic forges or maybe fiery braziers that lit the path through the mountain. Unfortunately, what I was greeted with was much less impressive.
Best Bit:
(Image credit: North Beach Games)
Finding an elven grove inside the mines of Moria was beautiful and reminded me of how spectacular The Lord of the Rings is. Thanks to this poignant moment, I’ll start rereading the books.
Most of the spaces look remarkably similar. So much so that it’s very easy to get lost in the endless halls. Many of them are littered with buckets and broken wooden chairs, with rats, badgers, and wolves loitering around, but apart from these wild animals, there isn’t much else to see. While the rubbish left lying around can be helpful if you’re gathering crafting materials, they mostly just get in the way and, after a while, blend into the background.
I wanted to reclaim Moria for its rightful owners, the Dwaves, so badly. I set out with grand expectations of building magnificent dining halls and creating vast mining networks. Unfortunately, I ended up spending more time than I’d care to admit cleaning away broken buckets and making small forges and fires in derelict houses. No matter how hard I tried to breathe life back into the cold, dark halls, I just couldn’t create anything worthwhile or characterful. The crafting options were limited to basic forging tools, walls, and ceilings. It was even impossible to use warm decorations such as carpets or curtains to create unique spaces.
Orc-estrated attacks
(Image credit: North Beach Games)
There are more than just aggressive badgers and wolves in the mines, though. Every now and then, you’re greeted by raiding orc parties, who have traveled from the depths of Moria simply to break down one of the walls you just finished building.
These green menaces arrive in groups of three or five, armed with swords and axes. You’re alerted to each raid by the sounding of a horn that’s followed by rapid footsteps that close in on your location. They tend to attack the closest hearth or base, so if you aren’t home, you usually return to see orcs destroying your dwelling like some underwhelming house party gone wrong. However, if you are close by, then you’re high on their hit list. If you have an iron sword on your hip, then these attacks are more frustrating than fearsome. One at a time, you can take out an entire party in less than a minute.
I’m just trying to sweep up the market; I don’t want to engage in some bar-side brawls
It’s unfortunate that these hunting parties are so underwhelming. The orcs found in these mines simply aren’t as terrifying as my younger self remembered. It’s also annoying how, no matter where you are, these raiders always find you. There’s no way to prevent incoming attacks or disengage from fights without dying. I’m just trying to sweep up the market; I don’t want to engage in some bar-side brawls.
Many of these evil-doers also end up embedded in my walls, forcing me to either destroy the entire structure or be forced to take a hit every time I go to collect stone from storage. They aren’t the only ones to get stuck in precarious locations, either. On my travels through the mines, I often encountered badgers who were wedged into the walls. I also found it difficult to consistently place items intentionally as they would rapidly glitch around when I tried to put anything in a tight space.
Unfortunate misstep
(Image credit: North Beach Games)
So, unfortunately, it’s another sad day for Lord of the Rings fans. This year has been unkind to the fantasy universe, with the Lord of the Rings: Gollum also releasing in a state that left many players and fans utterly dismayed and disappointed. Return to Moria follows this pattern as the title was unable to capture the incredible scope, adventure, and fantastical setting that this series is loved and known for.
I’d love nothing more than to play as Dwarves retaking their homeland alongside friends, but sadly, this is not the game to do that in. Besides the setting, there’s not much else to celebrate in Return to Moria.
For the time being, it seems like the only thing Lord of the Rings fans can do to maintain their immersion in Tolkien’s world is to rely on the books and movies, and, if you’re desperate to create your own Dwavern city, try to do so in Vanilla Minecraft - you’ll likely have far more success than if you try to do the same in Return to Moria.
Accessibility
(Image credit: North Beach Games)
There's not much in the way of accessibility settings in Return to Moria. Apart from basic subtitle settings enabling you to change the size and background, there isn’t much else in the way of customizing your in-game experience. However, you can change the volume levels for voice and UI effects if you want a quieter playthrough.
How we reviewed
I played Lord of the Rings:Return to Moria for around 10 hours on PC. I encountered multiple glitches that impacted my experience in the game, from orcs and badgers being trapped in walls to storage pallets shifting all over the place if I set them down in a tight spot.
While I tried to explore all the mines had to offer, I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to get too far by myself, so I spent a lot of time fixing up and clearing the chambers I did have access to while slowly trying to weed out all the orcs which were found in the elven sector.
If you're a fan of exploration, then check out these brilliant adventure games on PC and the best RPGs that are available to play right now.
Press paws on your Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT purr-chase for now. I get why that may seem hard; this pair of gaming headset is adorable and completely irresistible. And it also has its share of appealing features outside of its feline design, many of which make it a great option for gaming while on the go.
However, it may not be for you if you’re more discerning about audio quality.
Don’t get me wrong here; I can get a bit snobby when it comes to audio quality myself, and despite its performance shortcomings, which I will get to later in this review, I also don’t mind this gaming headset. I probably wouldn’t call it one of the best PC gaming headsets I’ve tested, but it has its merits – the big one of which is convenience. And, I am an absolute sucker for all things pink and all things cat.
So I wouldn’t knock it just yet just because you’re used to great-sounding audio devices. Instead, read this review first before hitting buy.
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(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
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(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
Design-wise, of course, the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT is winning. Who among us doesn’t love cats, after all? (If you hate cats, you’re a monster, and I don’t want to be friends!) And that pink-and-gray colorway (or as Razer calls it, Quartz) is just the thing if you want to veer away from that black aesthetic that seems to dominate the gaming world. Adding to its appeal are customizable RGB lighting zones on the cat ears and the earcups.
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
This wireless gaming headset isn’t all looks either. The headset itself feels solid and made of quality materials, with a textured finish on the headband, yokes, and parts of the earcups that ensure minimal scratches as well as plush cushioning for the earpads and the underside of the headband for comfort.
Being a lower mid-range gaming headset, there are noticeable signs of corners being cut here. While the earcups themselves can be tilted up and down, the yokes don’t have any articulation, slightly affecting comfort. And the leatherette used is neither the softest nor the most breathable. The latter doesn’t bother me much, but the former can feel like an inconvenience in some instances – like when I need to free one ear by moving the earcup off to the side.
While great for gaming on your desktop PC, the Kraken Kitty V2 BT is really designed more for gaming and media consumption on the go – whether that’s on your laptop (you don’t have to use any of your precious ports), your portable gaming console like the Nintendo Switch, or your smartphone. It only has Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity and a built-in, not boom, mic, is fairly lightweight especially considering it’s got two kitty ears attached to it, and comes with uncomplicated physical controls.
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
When I say uncomplicated, I mean it’s only got a multi-function button that acts as the power, Bluetooth pairing, media, and call buttons, and the volume dial. You just have to remember the presses and holds for every function. Luckily, it’s all very intuitive – single press for play/pause and accept/end call; double press to skip a track; triple press for the previous track; etc – that you’ll have it all memorized after a couple of uses.
I only wish Razer also added a way to customize the RGB lighting on-the-fly. It only allows you to do so by connecting it to your smartphone and to the Razer Audio mobile app, and personalizing it from there. The mobile app, by the way, also gives you access to a 10-band EQ, five different sound presets, and toggling Gaming Mode for low latency audio.
Really, the only reasons why you’d think it’s not for on-the-go use are the fact that it’s not foldable and the absence of a travel pouch. These omissions are a tad purr-plexing given that Razer has positioned this as more of a headset to be used everywhere than an actual gaming headset to be used at home.
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
Don’t expect high-quality audio on the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT. That isn’t to say that it sounds bad, because it doesn’t. And it’s got a bright sound profile that I think a lot of people would appreciate.
At the same time, the high end is not very crisp and the mids are not very prominent, resulting in audio that is not very rich and at times piercing to the ears. That’s whether I’m playing Hogwarts Legacy on my PC, playing Cooking Madness on my phone, or listening to my favorite tunes. The low end is also underwhelming, even when you switch to Razer’s Enhanced Bass sound profile.
The issue that bothers me most of all, however, is the clipping. When there are spikes in volume in the audio, even when the headset volume itself is not all the way up, I hear a popping sound. There’s definitely digital distortion happening that might be possibly related to the headset not having a lot of headroom.
The integrated beamforming mics are less-than purr-fect either. They have no issues with plosives or sibilance, and you will come through loud and audible. However, you’ll also sound a little distorted and not crisp. Plus, there’s no background noise rejection – friends could hear me typing, snapping my fingers, or playing music when I’m chatting with them.
At least, the battery life is decent. It’s not the longest I’ve seen, but you are getting up to 40 hours of playtime, especially if you turn off that bright RGB lighting.
Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT: Price & availability
How much does it cost? $99.99 / £99.99 (about AU$190)
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia
I wouldn’t call the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT a pricey gaming headset. One of the best wireless gaming headsets out there, especially in terms of design, it sits nicely in the mid-range market at $99.99 / £99.99 (about AU$190). However, I also expected it to have better audio performance at that price.
If you want a more elevated listening experience, I’d go for the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro (2023) if you can spend a little more. It’s got lots of volume, an immersive sound, an amazing mic, and even better battery life. For only a bit more than the Kraken Kitty V2 BT, the Logitech G733 Lightspeed Wireless RGB will deliver a more elevated sound.
Value: 3.5 / 5
Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT: Specs
Should you buy the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT?
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
Buy it if...
You love fun gaming peripherals to spruce up your setup There’s no doubt that the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT is like catnip to gamers who prefer fun gaming accessories with its kitty ears and its pink design.
You want a gaming headset you can take anywhere Razer had portability in mind when designing this gaming headset, with its Bluetooth connectivity, multi-function button, light weight, and more.
Don't buy it if...
You need better audio quality This doesn’t sound bad, but if you’re a more discerning listener, you’ll find a lot of flaws in its audio and mic performance.
Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT: Also consider
How I tested the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT
I tested the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT for a week
I used it with my PC, my iPhone, and my laptop
I used it for gaming and for listening to music
Testing the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT for a full week, I used it as my main gaming headset when playing different titles on my desktop PC and on my smartphone. I also used it to listen to music on my laptop and again, on my phone, as well as make phone calls with friends. I also made sure to test its features, including its multi-function button and its battery life.
I’ve been testing, reviewing, and using gaming headsets for years as a freelance tech journalist and now as one of the Computing editors at TechRadar. My years of experience along with my discerning audio tastes make me more than qualified to test and vet these devices for you.
The ARMs race has begun! With Apple's third-generation ARM-based Apple M3 silicon just around the corner, Qualcomm announced its competing solution, Snapdragon X Elite for Windows laptops. The SoC promises excellent performance, extreme efficiency and will arrive in the PC market by mid-2024.
A number of the largest Windows PC manufacturers have now been confirmed to develop devices with the new chip. The list includes HP, Lenovo, Asus, Dell and Acer. Honor, Microsoft, Samsung and Xiaomi are also going to deliver Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptops to announce next year.
Software...
Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed: Two-minute review
Though its name can be a mouthful, the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed makes everything else easy-breezy for users. Logitech G took one of the best gaming mice ever and improved on it in many ways, from its weight and charging port to its sensor, while keeping the bits that already made it a crowd-favorite.
Being one of the most lightweight gaming mice isn’t its only accolade – although shedding 3g off its predecessor’s weight is nonetheless impressive. It’s a speedy and long-lasting one too, and focusing more on its performance and longevity also allows it a no-frills look that makes it easy to fit in any setup, whether or not you’re into flashy RGB.
As its name implies, this is a wireless gaming mouse that uses Logitech’s Lightspeed wireless technology for connectivity. That means that you won’t have to put up with cables snagging when gaming.
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
If the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed looks to you very similar to the original though, that’s because Logitech G has largely kept the same simple minimalist design. That’s alright, in my opinion. It may be the era of maximalism, but that’s not necessary here. It’s also kept the same USB receiver garage at the bottom to keep that USB receiver safe, with the same round magnetic door that conveniently snaps in place, as well as the same five buttons, the same smooth-to-touch matte shell, and the same supportive form that makes it ideal for both claw and palm grippers.
That smooth finish may not be everyone’s cup of tea, as some gamers need a bit of texture for proper grippage – if only Logitech G had replicated the Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed’s grippy finish. However, stuck-on grips are included in the box that aren’t too shabby as alternatives. And all five buttons are within easy reach, even for someone like me who’s got small hands, so you can rest assured that you’re gaming comfortably.
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Just like the original, there’s no Powercore module (the wireless charging puck) included, even though you can still swap out the magnetic garage door for it for wireless charging. If you already have Logitech’s Powerplay wireless charging system, then you’re all set. If not, you’ll have to spend more for that convenience, which isn’t great considering this mouse is already expensive.
There are some design improvements thrown in, however. The most welcome of them is the USB-C charging port that replaced that antiquated and frankly annoying microUSB port. And again, its weight dropped from 63g of the original to merely 60g. Finally, apart from the black and white color options, there’s also a pink one for those trying to stray from neutral shades.
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
The Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed delivers a faster and more precise performance over its predecessor. That’s all thanks to its 2,000Hz polling rate and a new HERO 2 sensor that offers up to 32,000 DPI (a jump from 1,000Hz polling rate and up to 25,600 DPI).
Admittedly, those numbers, which you can set and adjust via the Logitech G Hub, are more than what most regular gamers need, but they do mean that this gaming mouse can more than keep up during fast-paced games and battles when you’re being overwhelmed by enemies, making it future-proofed. While I’m far from a competitive gamer, it’s proven more than capable when I’m playing CS:GO and Doom Eternal.
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
I do have a couple of minor quibbles, however. Sadly, zero-additive PTFE mouse feet, while delivering impeccable maneuverability on some surfaces, don’t glide easily on others. I found that although they’re great on gaming mouse pads and mats, they feel fiddly on bare desks. On top of that, the lower arch of the mouse isn’t as supportive for palm grippers; wrist fatigue is real after a couple of hours.
However, the mouse makes up for it in longevity. With up to 95 hours of battery life on a single charge, you’re getting almost two weeks of gaming every day for eight hours per day. That tracks as I didn’t have to recharge once during my two-week testing period.
Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed: Price & availability
How much does it cost? $159 / £149 / AU$299
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia
All those improvements will cost you. The Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed is slightly more expensive than its predecessor at $159 / £149 / AU$299. That’s around the same price as the Razer Deathadder V3 Pro, which has a base polling rate of 1,000Hz (upgradable to 4,000Hz with the Razer Hyperpolling wireless dongle), up to 30,000 DPI, and up to 90 hours battery life.
That price tag is admittedly a little steep for a gaming mouse, but if you’re looking for a fast-performing wireless mouse that lasts a while, it’s a great investment. However, if you can’t afford it, the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless offers 1,000Hz polling rate, up to 26,000 DPI, and an impressive 100-hour battery life for just $89.99 / £94.99 / AU$149.
Value: 4 / 5
Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed: Specs
(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)
Should you buy the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed?
Buy it if...
You need a fast and long-lasting wireless gaming mouse It delivers speed and accurate performance, making it ideal for competitive and fast-paced gaming.
You prefer a lightweight mouse It’s not the most lightweight wireless gaming mouse, but it is one of the lightest. If you want something light, this is a strong contender.
You hate charging your wireless peripherals This has up to 90 hours of battery life on a single charge, which means you won’t have to charge that often.
Don't buy it if...
You’re on a budget It is a pretty expensive investment, and there are cheaper under $100 / £100 alternatives available.
You prefer a gaming mouse with more heft If you’re one of the many gamers who aren’t comfortable with lightweight mice, you should give this one a skip.
Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed: Also consider
How I tested the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed
Tested the mouse for a couple of weeks
Used it for playing PC games as well as for work
I spent two weeks testing the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Lightspeed, dedicating a few hours each night for gaming so I could put this gaming mouse through its paces. In the daytime, I used it as my main mouse for work.
To test it, I played a few games with it, from a couple of fast-paced titles to more leisurely-paced games, getting a feel for its buttons, ergonomics, and performance. I made sure to utilize the G Hub software to customize settings and gave it a full charge before I began testing so I could accurately assess its battery life.
I’ve been testing and reviewing PC gaming peripherals for about 10 years now. Not only do I have plenty of experience with them, but I know what makes the best ones tick and can intuitively tell you which ones are not worth your time and money.
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
Available on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC
Release date: October 24, 2023
It’s rare to see a series commit to a feeling as hard as the Metal Gear stealth games. Whether you’re diving into Metal Gear or Metal Gear Solid 2, you’ll fill the same role: a super-spy sneaking his way into an enemy stronghold with nothing on you but a pack of smokes and a will to succeed.
From there, each game plays out like an action-thriller, equal parts stealth and explosive violence as your operative pulls a thread and unravels a sprawling conspiracy as time ticks away. Often this will involve throwing down with some fantastic bosses and a few giant mechs too - the Metal Gears hinted at in the title. Meanwhile, the same motifs come up again and again: terse radio calls, military firepower, and that slightly anxious feeling in the pit of your stomach, the nervousness you get just before you get spotted in a neighborhood-sized game of hide-and-seek tag.
Later games in the series amp up the cinematic production but also the intricacies of the stealth action and the combat - the latter of which making you feel like a cornered animal with your back to the wall, desperately trying to hit the enemy hard before scurrying back to a safe place to lick your wound and count your remaining ammo. But no matter how much extra computing power flows into the series, the original Metal Gear and the games that crept out after it never lost that core feeling of stealthy action.
Excuse the history lesson, but there’s no way around it. Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 packages up the first five games in the franchise into one bumper collection of tactical espionage action. This means you get Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, in addition to a heap of special features and regional add-ons like the superb VR Missions. These are re-releases rather than full remasters, so fans of the original games will find that they play exactly how you remember, and look a tiny bit shinier.
A solid recommendation
(Image credit: Konami)
For new players, it’s hard to emphasize quite how influential the Metal Gear Solid games in particular were, and the good news is that they’ve mostly aged well, and are definitely worth picking up even now all these years later. Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 are top-down and have a sort of retro chic because they’re old enough to be the sort of games that current indies are trying to riff off of. Metal Gear Solid is the only one in the bunch to have aged badly, but there will still be a good audience for how difficult the stealth actually is here to pull off, compared to the more forgiving - and much more interesting - detection systems in Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3.
In every case, the mechanical act of playing the game is tight and interesting. The systems here are every bit as solid as stealth games like Hitman, Combat still works. Later games have location based damage and you can take soldiers out of the fight by shooting their gun arm, or slow them down by hitting them in the legs. However, it's imprecise, so often you'll find something cool has happened by accident - a grenade you threw in panic has crippled a response team's ability to keep up with you, or a stray bullet meant for someone else has stopped a guard being able to shoot you. Better yet, hit an alert guard in the radio in Metal Gear Solid 2 and he'll be unable to report seeing you, keeping the alarm un-raised and giving you time to clean up your mess.
Best bit
(Image credit: Konami)
Metal Gear Solid 2’s tanker prologue was iconic then, and it’s iconic now. Sneaking around a rain-slick tanker’s deck picking off Russian Spetsnaz is a perfect example of how auteur Hideo Kojima obsesses over not just the vibe of his work, but also the way each mechanic interacts with each other.
But the controls are where things start to suffer. Holding your gun ready to fire and moving requires you to hold two of the face buttons on your controller in tandem, and it’s often easier to move yourself into position to take out an enemy than to actually aim your weapon. Bizarrely, this works to make combat feel like something to be avoided, and it encourages you to get your sneak on.
Although how you do that is up to you. Something quite incredible about all three of the Metal Gear Solid games included here is how intricate they are, and the options that they give you. Take the humble cardboard box. In Metal Gear Solid you can use it to hide yourself from enemies and surveillance cameras, but you can also use it to ship yourself around the Shadow Moses facility by stowing away on trucks like an early iteration of fast travel. You can even get a wolf to urinate on it, covering you in their scent so that wolves in the game no longer attack you.
This is a recurrent theme - the intricate interactions, not the wolf urine. Although cardboard boxes do play a large part of every Master Collection game - who knew - there’s a huge number of simple systems that actually turn out to be incredibly complex, making the games feel impossibly deep even though they’re actually very simple.
Sneak and destroy
(Image credit: Konami)
Soldiers in all three games feel intelligent but are actually very stupid indeed. They follow pre-set paths and behave in predictable ways, but the first time you’re cornered in Metal Gear Solid 2 and the game’s radar turns off to give way to a tight-angle shot of a squad clearing out the area they had previously trapped you in? You’ll jump to your feet. You’ll feel a rush of adrenaline that few games can match. Better yet, each of the stealth masterpieces have tight runtimes. Players used to the long-winded arcs of modern games will probably be stunned by how quickly Metal Gear Solid lets you get into the heart of its mystery, and it’s easily finishable in a handful of hours if you’re moving with purpose. The other games in the collection are the same: you get to the meat quickly, and then things keep moving at a steady pace until the credits roll.
I don’t know how much I subscribe to auteur theory, but I will say Hideo Kojima and his team of collaborators managed to make one of the most interesting stealth games of all time with Metal Gear Solid, before doing it all over again with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and then accidentally inventing the survival genre with the slightly lesser Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 10 years before anyone else. Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake are also worth playing, but don’t quite hit the same high notes.
The games’ stories pinball between spy fiction and some absolutely ridiculous conspiracy theories and supernatural elements. It’s to the credit of the writing team that these twists always feel earned and no matter how ridiculous things get, most players will be along for the ride every step of the way. Where it gets grim are the archaic parts that fans have long tried to wave off as foibles of auteur Hideo Kojima. There’s no other word for it but gross when Metal Gear Solid hero Solid Snake celebrates sneaking into an enemy base by skeezing all over his school-age intelligence operator Mei Ling, before immediately changing tack to hit on the older doctor that was on the same call. It’s easy to see the tip of the hat to James Bond , but it feels less like leading-man charm and more like 007 had drunkenly staggered into a family reunion to try his luck with everyone he wasn’t related to.
In Metal Gear Solid 2, Snake can hide inside a locker and kiss the posters of half-naked women taped inside with a loud lip-smacking noise. I grew up with these games, and I adore them even now, but it’s hard to defend the treatment and view of women in just about every game in the series. Metal Gear Solid 3 lets you switch to first-person mode during cutscenes just to look at the barely concealed chest of the KGB spy Eva during cutscenes. It won’t hinder most people’s enjoyment of the game, but this is the sort of thing that titillates teenagers, and as a man now in my mid-30s often spending cutscenes trying to shovel snacks into my mouth, I often found myself wishing Hideo Kojima and his team of writers had made their spies a little less horny and a lot more covert with their intentions.
Regardless, this collection is both a treasure trove in terms of video game preservation but also a terrific option for new players who are starved by the drought of top-notch stealth. While the fact these versions are a repackaged collection of the 2012 remasters may annoy some, there's no denying that every game here has stood the test of time, despite the fact half of the games included are over 25 years old.
Dig in, they don’t do tactical espionage action like this anymore.
Accessibility
Outside of basic subtitling, there's next to nothing here. Each of the games in the collection comes with its own option menu, but it's exclusively full of options to turn off blood or other details related to how the game works. Accessibility isn't catered for at all here.
How we reviewed
I played through each of the games in the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 on PS5. This took around 35 hours, but I found I already had the muscle memory to get through most of the areas in Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 promptly, massively reducing how much I had to puzzle or stealth my way through as long-optimized routes from over a decade ago appear to be seared into my brain.
I also tried several of the included extra content packs, which added more stealth but felt somewhat superfluous; a nice addition for players who may feel the need to sneak even after the credits have rolled.
The Intel Arc A770 has had quite a journey since its release back on October 12, 2022, and fortunately, it has been a positive one for Intel despite a somewhat rocky start.
Right out the gate, I'll say that if you are looking for one of the best cheap graphics cards for 1440p gaming, this card definitely needs to be on your list. It offers great 1440p performance for most modern PC titles that most of us are going to be playing and it's priced very competitively against its rivals.
Where the card falters, much like with my Intel Arc A750 review earlier this year, is with older DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 titles, and this really does hurt its overall score in the end. Which is a shame, since for games released in the last five or six years, this card is going to surprise a lot of people who might have written it off even six months ago.
Intel's discrete graphics unit has been working overtime on its driver for this card, providing regular updates that continue to improve performance across the board, though some games benefit more than others.
Naturally, a lot of emphasis is going to be put on more recently released titles. And even though Intel has also been paying attention to shoring up support for older games as well, if you're someone with an extensive back catalog of DX9 and DX10 titles from the mid-2000s that you regularly return to, then this is not the best graphics card for your needs. Nvidia and AMD drivers carry a long legacy of support for older titles that Intel will honestly never be able to match.
But if what you're looking for is the best 1440p graphics card to play the best PC games of the modern era but you're not about to plop down half a grand on a new GPU, then the Intel Arc A770 is going to be a very solid pick with a lot more to offer than many will probably realize.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Intel Arc A770: Price & availability
How much is it? US MSRP for 16GB card: $349 (about £280/AU$510); for 8GB card: $329 (about £265/AU$475)
When was it released? It went on sale on October 12, 2022
Where can you buy it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia
The Intel Arc A770 is available now in the US, UK, and Australia, with two variants: one with 16GB GDDR6 VRAM and an official US MSRP of $349 (about £280/AU$510), and one with 8GB GDDR6 VRAM and an official MSRP of $329 (about £265/AU$475).
Those are the launch MSRPs from October 2022, of course, and the cards have come down considerably in price in the year since their release, and you can either card for about 20% to 25% less than that. This is important, since the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 and AMD Radeon RX 7600 are very close to the 16GB Arc A770 cards in terms of current prices, and offer distinct advantages that will make potential buyers want to go with the latter rather than the former.
But those decisions are not as cut and dry as you might think, and Intel's Arc A770 holds up very well against modern midrange offerings, despite really being a last-gen card. And, currently, the 16GB variant is the only 1440p card that you're going to find at this price, even among Nvidia and AMD's last-gen offerings like the RTX 3060 Ti and AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT. So for 1440p gamers on a very tight budget, this card fills a very vital niche, and it's really the only card that does so.
Price score: 4/5
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Intel Arc A770: Design
Intel's Limited Edition reference card is gorgeous
Will fit most gaming PC cases easily
Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition Design Specs
Slot size: Dual slot Length: 11.02 inches | 280mm Height: 4.53 inches | 115mm Cooling: Dual fan Power Connection: 1 x 8-pin and 1 x 6-pin Video outputs: 3 x DisplayPort 2.0, 1 x HDMI 2.1
The Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition that I'm reviewing is Intel's reference model that is no longer being manufactured, but you can still find some stock online (though at what price is a whole other question).
Third-party partners include ASRock, Sparkle, and Gunnir. Interestingly, Acer also makes its own version of the A770 (the Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770), the first time the company has dipped its toe into the discrete graphics card market.
All of these cards will obviously differ in terms of their shrouds, cooling solutions, and overall size, but as far as Intel's Limited Edition card goes, it's one of my favorite graphics cards ever in terms of aesthetics. If it were still easily available, I'd give this design five out of five, hands down, but most purchasers will have to opt for third-party cards which aren't nearly as good-looking, as far as I'm concerned, so I have to dock a point for that.
It's hard to convey from just the photos of the card, but the black finish on the plastic shroud of the card has a lovely textured feel to it. It's not quite velvety, but you know it's different the second you touch it, and it's something that really stands out from every other card I've reviewed.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
The silver trim on the card and the more subtle RGB lighting against a matte black shroud and fans really bring a bit of class to the RGB graphics card I typically see. The twin fans aren't especially loud (not any more so than other dual-fan cards, at least), and the card feels thinner than most other similar cards I've reviewed and used, whether or not the card is thinner in fact.
The power connector is an 8-pin and 6-pin combo, so you'll have a pair of cables dangling from the card which may or may not affect the aesthetic of your case, but at least you won't need to worry about a 12VHPWR or 12-pin adapter like you do with Nvidia's RTX 4000-series and 3000-series cards.
You're also getting three DisplayPort 2.0 outputs and an HDMI 2.1 output, which puts it in the same camp as Nvidia's recent GPUs, but can't match AMD's recent move to DisplayPort 2.1, which will enable faster 8K video output. As it stands, the Intel Arc A770 is limited to 8K@60Hz, just like Nvidia. Will you be doing much 8K gaming on a 16GB card? Absolutely not, but as we get more 8K monitors next year, it'd be nice to have an 8K desktop running at 165Hz, but that's a very speculative prospect at this point, so it's probably not anything anyone looking at the Arc A770 needs to be concerned about.
Design Score: 4 / 5
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Intel Arc A770: Specs & features
Good hardware AI cores for better XeSS upscaling
Fast memory for better 1440p performance
Intel's Xe HPG architecture inside the Arc A770 introduces a whole other way to arrange the various co-processors that make up a GPU, adding a third, not very easily comparable set of specs to the already head-scratching differences between Nvidia and AMD architectures.
Intel breaks up its architecture into "render slices", which contain 4 Xe Cores, which each contain 128 shaders, a ray tracing processor, and 16 matrix processors (which are directly comparable to Nvidia's vaunted tensor cores at least), which handle graphics upsampling and machine learning workflows. Both 8GB and 16GB versions of the A770 contain eight render slices for a total of 4096 shaders, 32 ray processors, and 512 matrix processors.
The ACM-G10 GPU in the A770 runs at 2,100MHz base frequency with a 2,400MHz boost frequency, with a slightly faster memory clock speed (2,184MHz) for the 16GB variant than the 8GB variant's 2,000MHz. This leads to an effective memory speed of 16 Gbps for the 8GB card and 17.5 Gbps for the 16GB.
With a 256-bit memory bus, this gives the Arc A770 a much wider lane for high-resolution textures to be processed through, reducing bottlenecks and enabling faster performance when gaming at 1440p and higher resolutions thanks to a 512 GB/s and 559.9 GB/s memory bandwidth for the 8GB and 16GB cards, respectively.
All of this does require a good bit of power, though, and the Arc A770 has a TDP of 225W, which is higher than most 1440p cards on the market today.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
As far as features all this hardware empowers, there's a lot to like here. The matrix cores are leveraged to great effect by Intel's XeSS graphics upscaling tech found in a growing number of games, and this hardware advantage generally outperforms AMD's FSR 2.0, which is strictly a software-based upscaler.
XeSS does not have frame generation though, and the matrix processors in the Arc A770 are not nearly as mature as Nvidia's 3rd and 4th generation tensor cores found in the RTX 3000-series and RTX 4000-series, respectively.
The Arc A770 also has AV1 hardware-accelerated encoding support, meaning that streaming videos will look far better than those with only software encoding at the same bitrate, making this a compelling alternative for video creators who don't have the money to invest in one of Nvidia's 4000-series GPUs.
Specs & features: 3.5 / 5
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Intel Arc A770: Performance
Great 1440p performance
Intel XeSS even allows for some 4K gaming
DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 support lacking, so older games will run poorly
Resizable BAR is pretty much a must
At the time of this writing, Intel's Arc A770 has been on the market for about a year, and I have to admit, had I gotten the chance to review this card at launch, I would probably have been as unkind as many other reviewers were.
As it stands though, the Intel Arc A770 fixes many of the issues I found when I reviewed the A750, but some issues still hold this card back somewhat. For starters, if you don't enable Resizable BAR in your BIOS settings, don't expect this card to perform well at all. It's an easy enough fix, but one that is likely to be overlooked, so it's important to know that going in.
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In synthetic benchmarks, the A770 performed fairly well against the current crop of graphics cards, despite its effectively being a last-gen card. It is particularly strong competition against the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti across multiple workloads, and it even beats the 4060 Ti in a couple of tests.
Its Achilles Heel, though, is revealed in the PassMark 3D Graphics test. Whereas 3DMark tests DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 workloads, Passmark's test also runs DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 workflows, and here the Intel Arc A770 simply can't keep up with AMD and Nvidia.
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In non-ray-traced and native-resolution gaming benchmarks, the Intel Arc A770 managed to put up some decent numbers against the competition. At 1080p, the Arc A770 manages an average of 103 fps with an average minimum fps of 54. At 1440p, it averages 78 fps, with an average minimum of 47, and even at 4K, the A770 manages an average of 46 fps, with an average minimum of 27 fps.
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Turn on ray tracing, however, and these numbers understandably tank, as they do for just about every card below the RTX 4070 Ti and RX 7900 XT. Still, even here, the A770 does manage an average fps of 41 fps, with an average minimum of 32 fps) at 1080p with ray tracing enabled, which is technically still playable performance. Once you move up to 1440p and 4K, however, your average title isn't going to be playable at native resolution with ray tracing enabled.
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Enter Intel XeSS. When set to "Balanced", XeSS turns out to be a game changer for the A770, getting it an average framerate of 66 fps (with an average minimum of 46 fps) at 1080p, an average of 51 fps (with an average minimum of 38 fps) at 1440p, and an average 33 fps (average minimum 26 fps) at 4K with ray tracing maxed out.
While the 26 fps average minimum fps at 4K means it's really not playable at that resolution even with XeSS turned on, with settings tweaks, or more modest ray tracing, you could probably bring that up into the low to high 30s, making 4K games playable on this card with ray tracing turned on.
That's something the RTX 4060 Ti can't manage thanks to its smaller frame buffer (8GB VRAM), and while the 16GB RTX 4060 Ti could theoretically perform better (I have not tested the 16GB so I cannot say for certain), it still has half the memory bus width of the A770, leading to a much lower bandwidth for larger texture files to pass through.
This creates an inescapable bottleneck that the RTX 4060 Ti's much larger L2 cache can't adequately compensate for, and so takes it out of the running as a 4K card. When tested, very few games managed to maintain playable frame rates even without ray tracing unless you dropped the settings so low as to not make it worth the effort. The A770 16GB, meanwhile, isn't technically a 4K card, but it can still dabble at that resolution with the right settings tweaks and still look reasonably good.
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All told, then, the Intel Arc A770 turns out to be a surprisingly good graphics card for modern gaming titles that can sometimes even hold its own against the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti. It can't hold a candle to the RX 7700 XT or RTX 4070, but it was never meant to, and given that those cards cost substantially more than the Arc A770, this is entirely expected.
Its maximum observed power draw of 191.909W is pretty high for the kind of card the A770 is, but it's not the most egregious offender in that regard. All this power meant that keeping it cool was a struggle, with its maximum observed temperature hitting about 74 ºC.
Among all the cards tested, the Intel Arc A770 was at nearly the bottom of the list with the RX 6700 XT, so the picture for this card might have been very different had it launched three years ago and it had to compete with the RTX 3000-series and RX-6000 series exclusively. In the end, this card performs like a last-gen card, because it is.
Despite that, it still manages to be a fantastic value on the market right now given its low MSRP and fairly solid performance, rivaling the RTX 4060 Ti on the numbers. In reality though, with this card selling for significantly less than its MSRP, it is inarguably the best value among midrange cards right now, and it's not even close.
Performance score: 3.5 / 5
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Should you buy the Intel Arc A770?
Buy the Intel Arc A770 if...
Don't buy it if...
Also Consider
If my Intel Arc A770 review has you considering other options, here are two more graphics cards for you to consider.
How I tested the Intel Arc A770
I spent several days benchmarking the card, with an additional week using it as my primary GPU
I ran our standard battery of synthetic and gaming benchmarks
Test Bench
These are the specs for the test system used for this review: CPU: Intel Core i9-13900K
CPU Cooler: Cougar Poseidon GT 360 AIO Cooler Motherboard: MSI MPG Z790E Tomahawk Wifi
Memory: 64GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5-6000 SSD: Samsung 990 Pro PSU: Thermaltake PF3 1050W ATX 3.0 Case: Praxis Wetbench
I spent about two weeks with the Intel Arc A770 in total, with a little over half that time using it as my main GPU on my personal PC. I used it for gaming, content creation, and other general-purpose use with varying demands on the card.
I focused mostly on synthetic and gaming benchmarks since this card is overwhelmingly a gaming graphics card. Though it does have some video content creation potential, it's not enough to dethrone Nvidia's 4000-series GPUs, so it isn't a viable rival in that sense and wasn't tested as such.
I've been reviewing computer hardware for years now, with an extensive computer science background as well, so I know how graphics cards like this should perform at this tier.
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
